The Digital Turn

How the Internet Transforms Our Existence

Wim Westera

Note from the author

“Media are
the cognitive tools that help us to extend our knowledge of the world.
Radio, TV and the web stretch our mental horizons and help us
to achieve a better understanding of the world and ourselves. At the
same time the ever-growing parade of new digital media may easily
confuse us and produce distorted worldviews. I
decided to write this book to counteract this confusion. The Digital
Turn offers a helicopter view of media and their functioning. Its
purpose is to stretch the reader’s media literacy beyond the level of
superficial, manifest and volatile media characteristics, and to allow
them stay in control of the media they use rather than being controlled
by the media they use.

It may seem a
bit strange to come up with a book in today’s digital age, particularly
when the author points out the impact of digital media, but, frankly, in
many respects books remain superior communication media. In 1920 Thomas
Alva Edison proclaimed the end of books for teaching because film, the
new medium that would bring the sounds and images of the world inside
the classroom, would make book superfluous. How greatly mistaken he was!
As I explain in my book, film is different, not better (pages 170-172).
Books are splendid, high-quality media that are tangible, flexible,
portable, and personal, and particularly suited for narration and
argumentation, possibly enriched with little anecdotes and appealing
examples that make you want to read on. I hope you enjoy the reading!”

Wim Westera

About the author

Wim Westera
is full professor of digital media at the Open University of the
Netherlands. He holds a PhD in physics and mathematics (Utrecht
University). Having been trained at the BBC, he created dozens of TV
programs and documentaries. Since the nineties, he has been involved as
a researcher and practitioner in educational simulation, multimedia, and
technology-enhanced learning. The Digital Turn is a derivative of his
long-standing professional involvement in media research and
development. His main motive for writing this book has been to enable
readers to enhance their digital media literacy and remain in control of
the media they use. He asserts that understanding the mechanisms of
digital media beyond the level of practical operation is a necessary
condition for human functioning in a digitally-enhanced world. He wrote many papers and chapters about media for
learning and is the author of the book: Audiovisual Design, Theory and
Practice (in Dutch).

Access various of his research preprints, presentations, columns
and blogs on Technology Enhanced Learning
on his website at the Open University of the Netherlands
www.open.ou.nl/wim.